HOPES FOR 2010

Its the end of the first week of 2010 and after last week's reflections on last year, I want to look ahead for this one.

There is one thought that keeps coming to me and that is, that above anything else, I want to live totally in the present moment and live it as Jesus wants me to. I recognise I have a tendency to either look back, to good times past, or forwards, to things eagerly anticipated and the present moment passes without me really living it to the full. I want to inhabit 'now', and be all that I can be, even in the everyday mundane routines of work and family life. Life is not about pleasure seeking, or even seeking 'spiritual highs', its about needing and finding God in every moment of every day and aiming to be His presence to the world I'm in. I can't do this in my strength and so as this year begins I ask Him to help me make this a reality.

Two quotes I have recently come across have re-inforced this to me; one (courtesy of a friend's Facebook wall) says 'While you are dreaming of the future or regretting the past, the present, which is all you have, slips from you and is gone' and the other (courtesy of my 2010 diary!) says 'Today should be our most wonderful day'.

There are other hopes for the year; my son will leave school and has gap year and university plans, we are returning to Cape Town in july / august with another team and are excited about the developing partnerships and friendships there, I am hoping to see growth in our own local church and especially see people from many countries of the world united in fellowship and service, and finally to see our Street Pastors project begin to make an impact into our community.

But much of the year will, despite all these hopeful highlights, be spent working (thankfully in a job I do enjoy and believe helps others), and engaging in ordinary things with family and friends, and at all times I want to be aware of God's presence and living 'life in all its fulness' whatever I'm doing. and constantly being drawn closer to him.

Reflections on 2009

It's New Year's Eve 2009, and before celebrating with friends and family tonight, I want to just reflect on what has been for me an incredible year.
The main thing for me has been rediscovering my focus, passion and love for the Lord Jesus, and having dreams once again for the future. At the end of 2008, we were just booking tickets for a small team from our church to go to Cape Town in July 2009, to work in a school for excluded children on the Cape Flats and to share in the life of Cape Town Christian Fellowship, a church reaching out into that community. I had no idea how much my life would be changed. Whilst we were there, we were welcomed so much into a wonderful caring community of God's people , we recognised again the need to rely on God totally and completely as we were out of our comfort zones, and we were blown away by seeing the power of God in transforming lives of people previously lost to things such as drug addiction and gangs. We felt we received far more than we ever gave, and yet were so encouraged by the feedback from those we met who seemed to feel we had something to offer. We became aware of the enormous privileges we have and came away just wanting to share whatever we could.
Since then, relationships have developed, we have begun a partnership between our church and CTCF, we have received visitors from Cape Town, and are expecting more in 2010. We have bought a house there, and are planning further visits next year. I have fallen in love with this wonderful community, and through some of them have rediscovered my love for the Lord.

There have been some other highlights of this year: my son Tom baptised, and go on a mission trip to Argentina in the summer, joining Street Pastors, seeing our church grow and flourish in our newly refurbished building, seeing a gradual change in the international make-up of our congregation with the blessings and challenges that that brings.

My next blog will be about my hopes and expectations for 2010, but for now I want to just give thanks to my Father, my Saviour for all His faithfulness, for not giving up on me through years of mediocre Christian living, for helping me rediscover dreams and visions and for giving me amazing new opportunities to serve Him.
And thanks to all my new friends in Cape Town, there are too many to mention, but you know who you are, for your encouragements, inspiration, love and partnership. Looking forward to so much more in the future.

SNOW!

There must be many stories of how the snow has affected us in the UK this past week. At the w/e it seemed a real blessing; clear blue skies, beautiful views , fresh air and time to enjoy the wonders of God's creation. By Monday, much of those sentiments had changed. After a 4 hour journey home , resulting in abandoning the car on the road (or rather skating rink) and having to walk to the police station where I was needed to do an urgent assessment, finally getting home 5 1/2 hours after starting out, I was frazzled, tired and wishing it all to go away.
On thinking about it a bit more, it has struck me that sometimes God uses these things to teach us that we can't be in control of things. I am the sort of person who likes to plan my life out, know exactly what I'm doing when, and doesn't like my routines upset. Snow certainly upsets routines and changes plans and maybe God is saying to me that He wants to be in control and my plans need to be subject to His.
So whatever else this winter brings in terms of weather, I want to thank God for the variety of His creation, for the fact that He is always in control and that I can truly trust Him.

My First Blog

Welcome to my first ever blog post! I never imagined I would be writing such a thing. I considered my life to be fairly ordinary with nothing much going on that anyone would want to read about.
But this year, life has changed a bit. I have met some amazing people who have inspired and challenged me. I have rediscovered passion in some of the things I do, taken up some new challenges and most of all found out that Jesus makes my life less ordinary. I have known Him for years, but it took my visit to Cape Town this year for me to realise more of what a difference He can make.
So I plan to blog about some of the ordinary experiences of my everyday life and how they can become transformed by His presence in what I do.
Apologies to my family and friends who think I'm crazy; and particular thanks to my special friends at Impact Direct for encouraging me to do this, and believing in me, that I might have something worth saying. I love reading your blogs, am continually inspired and amazed by your stories and hope maybe you will find some things worth reading in mine.God Bless you all.
Special thanks to Craig for helping me get started!